S.F.’s Only River Otter at Sutro Baths

Naturalists and wildlife aficionados are atwitter about the unexplained presence of a river otter at the ruins of Sutro Baths, the first of the furry mammals seen in San Francisco in at least a half century.

The otter, dubbed Sutro Sam, has been hanging out in a large spring-fed pool along the rocky coast, munching on the many overgrown goldfish dumped into the pond by residents over the years.

“This otter is the first otter recorded in decades and decades in San Francisco, and as far as I know he is the only otter in San Francisco,” said Megan Isadore, the co-founder and director of outreach and education for the River Otter Ecology Project, which is tracking otter sightings around the Bay Area. “He’s a beautiful animal, well fed. He appears to be perfectly happy and not afraid of people.”